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Used a regulatory approval to issue crypto; trading suspended

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has temporarily suspended trading in shares of American Retail Group, or Simax as it is known in the market (NYSE: ARGB), after using the approval it received from the Authority to issue cryptocurrencies on the stock exchange.
According to the authority, the company used the permit given to it to provide custody services (custodian) in order to issue virtual coins.

Simax, on the other hand, claims that the issuance of cryptographic tokens was made by a third party, a company authorized under the authority's regulations to offer custody services and with which Simax has signed a cooperation agreement. Therefore, according to the company, the issue was made in accordance with the regulations of the Securities Authority and no violation of the law was committed.

In its enforcement efforts, the Authority advises investors to be careful when considering investments in digital currencies as there are companies that distort the agreements reached between them and the Authority in order to promote investments in cryptocurrencies or digital currencies. It should be borne in mind that according to the Director of the Cybercrime Enforcement Unit of the Securities Authority, the Authority does not approve or authorize custody services in cryptocurrencies.

Kenya is called upon to integrate a crypto into its economy

The chairman of Kenya's (Africa)'s Intelligent Intelligence and Virtual Currency Record Technology Task Force says the government should integrate virtual currency use into Kenya's economy.

The task force was set up in March by the Government of the Republic of Kenya to evaluate proposals on how to use blockchain technology in the public sector. The working group was composed of local start-ups, experts, researchers, regulatory bodies, lawyers and other related parties.

In a meeting of stakeholders in the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications with the private sector, the chairman of the task force called on the government to consider integrating virtual currency into the economy of Kenya, in order to deal with the growing rates of corruption and uncertainty, while making the government print less money.

In addition, the chairman noted at the meeting that the adoption of the virtual currency may lower unemployment levels, and detailed the reasons for the need to issue a virtual currency that is equivalent to the Fiat currency. The goal is, as explained, to give incentives to young people to work in exchange for virtual currencies that can be converted into fiat currencies and thus accelerate the process of integrating cryptocurrencies into the economy.

At the same time, in June this year (2018), Bankor (it is a distributed liquidity network) launched a network of blockchain-based community currencies in Kenya in order to fight poverty in the country. The project seeks to stimulate local and regional trading and peer-to-peer trading that enables communities in the state of Kenya to create and manage their own digital currencies.

At the same time, and despite the recommendations of the task force, the Central Bank of Kenya issued a memorandum to all banks in the country in April, warning them against using cryptocurrencies or engaging in transactions with entities related to or dealing in cryptocurrencies. According to the memo, the reasons for the boycott of cryptocurrencies stem from their involvement in illegal activities, their anonymity and the lack of concentrated control over these coins.

The Chinese crypto mining giant arrives at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

The Chinese company, Bitmain, whose main business is mining cryptocurrencies, submitted at the end of September 2018 a draft application for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

According to various reports, the company, founded in 2013, owns between 70 and 80 percent of the bitcoin miners' market. Following its operations in Canada, the company is considering expanding to other countries outside China, following a national boycott of virtual currency trading and increasing regulatory legislation surrounding the mining of cryptocurrencies in China.

In the introduction to the application, the company defined itself as the second largest Chinese company and among the top ten companies in the world for designing and selling integrated circuits, in terms of revenue for 2017. Indeed, the company shows particularly rapid financial growth between 2015 and 2017 as well as profitability that increased by more than 936 percent. The first six months of 2017 to those of 2018.

The company gave a brief description of the mining equipment it provides and emphasized that it is one of the only companies offering tools for mining various virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Lightcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Atherium, Dash and Zikash.

In addition, the company highlighted their recent expansion with 11 new virtual coin mining farms in Sichuan Province, Xinjiang and Mongolia as well as the fact that the company operates two mining databases, the largest in the world and the second largest in the world, using central processing units (cpu). Get up and answer.

In the draft application, Bitmain states that it requests to register for the purpose of presenting information to the public in Hong Kong only and for no other purpose. In presenting a detailed business review, the company emphasizes that the application is a draft and is subject to further extensions in the future as it is not yet complete.

The company's plan is to actually make an initial public offering of US dollar-denominated shares in jurisdictions like Hong Kong.

Crypto-Ukraine is considering issuing a local virtual currency

The National Bank of Ukraine is recently considering the issuance of a digital currency based on the blockchain method that will be owned by the state and that its tradability against the local Fiat currency will be 1: 1.

According to the bank, the virtual hryvnia-based currency backed by the state is expected to increase the rate of non-cash payments and reduce the costs associated with those payments.

Beyond a significant reduction in costs and time required to execute transactions, the Bank sees additional benefits to issuing state-owned blockchain-based virtual currency, such as protecting human rights in terms of assets and property and accelerating the country’s money cycles.

In addition, according to the bank, linking the digital currency to the local Fiat currency should prevent an increase in the country's inflation rate.
The idea of ​​"digital currency" has been raised several times in the past in Ukraine as part of a project called "Cash-Free Economy", in which plans were made to launch a virtual currency that would not be based on blockchain technology.

According to sources in the National Bank, it is not possible to compare digital currency such as the virtual hryvnia and cryptocurrencies because these currencies are anonymous and distributed, unlike the currency that the bank seeks to issue that will be backed by and owned by the state.
The Ukrainian parliament even proposed a 5% tax on crypto assets on individuals and companies working with the currency and 18% on crypto-related capital gains.

Moreover, in July the Committee of Ministers convened for Financial Stability in Ukraine and discussed the legal status of cryptocurrencies, thus expressing actual support for the idea of ​​cryptocurrency regulation.

Russia has also recently discussed the possibility of issuing a state-owned crypto-currency, the crypto-ruble.

In any case, according to senior officials at the National Bank, the plan to issue a local virtual currency based on a blockchain is still in the planning stages only and will only take place after a detailed and in-depth analysis.

Brazil: Central banks under antitrust inquiry into cryptocurrencies

The regulator of the Antitrust Agency in Brazil and the Administrative Council for the Protection of the Economy ("the Council") which operate under the Ministry of Justice have allegedly begun an investigation to see if the country's six largest banks have closed accounts of brokerage firms engaged in bitcoin trading.

The investigation will examine large listed banks such as Banco do Brasil, Banco Bradesco, Banco Santander Brazil, and unregistered banks such as Banco Inter and the Cooperative Bank Sicardi.
The investigation was opened following a request by the Brazilian Association for Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies after receiving a number of complaints on the subject. One of the complaints was received from a local company that provides a crypto trading platform, which claimed that Banco du Brasil had allegedly closed its account.

According to a council report, banks are imposing restrictions and even preventing brokerage firms operating in the virtual currency sector from accessing the country's financial system. Money laundering in the country.

Antitrust experts say that while illegal activities should be avoided and banks are required to take restrictive measures when there is a suspicion of illegal activity in any account. However, it does not make sense for banks to apply restrictive measures in advance and consistently to all virtual currency trading companies, without a detailed examination of the level of compliance and anti-money laundering measures taken by each brokerage firm individually.

Following the announcement of the investigation, Banco du Brasil, which is considered the largest bank in terms of assets in Brazil and Latin America, said the bank is committed to competitive practices based on ethics and respect for free competition. Itao Unibenko further stated that he is confident that the results of the investigation will show that his conduct is legal and legitimate.

Crypto experts claim: Regulation on virtual currency will not be in years

Blockchain, virtual currencies and digital assets were the main topic of discussion at last month's Code Conference.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted during the discussion that Bitcoin could eventually become the "napster" of digital currency, that is, the pioneer of virtual currencies. Which lost its power after losing a legal battle over file sharing) showed us what could be done, but in the end it was spotify, itunes and Pandora that were the big winners in the market since they involved the regulators in the process at an early stage.

And yet, when it comes to the virtual currency market and the blockchain, everything looks like the Wild West. According to Professor Katherine Hawn, a lecturer and professor at the Santford School of Business, and a board member at Coinbase and the Caravan, it will be several more years before there is sufficient regulation around the blockchain and the virtual currency.

She adds and compares the first days of the Internet and the blockchain, claiming that there are a number of receipts. In the early days of the internet, for example, people demanded one regulator to set the rules. In those days it did not happen, but now we see it happening with cryptocurrencies and blockchains, she says.

At the same time, she notes that if regulation had been created around virtual currency and blockchain issues a year ago, it would be outdated and irrelevant mainly because of the growth of virtual currency issues.

In her opinion, it is important to wait and see how technology develops because "we do not want regulation to progress faster than understanding," she says.

New report claims: 82% profit for investors in ICO issues of virtual currencies

According to recent studies, virtual currency issues have raised a total of $ 12 billion since January 2017.

According to the researchers, since most ICO issues of virtual currencies are made at a significantly lower value than their market value, the average profit from the difference between the initial sale price of the crypto token and the market price on the first day of the token on the cryptocurrency exchange can reach 179 percent. Of only 16 days.

Even in cases where the issuer failed to register the IPO within 60 days and the returns were negative, it was found that the average investor almost doubled his investment.
After weighting these results, it was found that the average return on investment in virtual currencies is 82 percent.

The report showed that crypto tokens continue to generate exceptionally positive return on investment, with investors holding their investment for a period longer than 180 days seeing the highest return ranging from 150 percent to 430 percent.

Prominent and important members of the crypto field continue to speak out thanks to the need for ICO issuances of virtual currencies, which offer a convenient tool for raising support for emerging projects, despite a number of notable scams that have attracted much negative communication to the popular crypto token model.

At the same time, South Korea has revealed that it intends to lift the boycott on domestic virtual currency issues, which was imposed in September 2017.

In contrast, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a new campaign designed to educate investors, including the creation of a website for counterfeit currency offerings built to mimic the classic "red flags" of fraudulent tokens sales. Investors in particular, since investors are sophisticated enough to discern and not invest in scams.

US Journalistic Research Finds: 'Red Flags' in 19% of Virtual Currency Issues

From an analysis of data from about 1,500 virtual currency issues from May 2017, the American newspaper concludes that 18.6% of those issues raised suspicions of 'red flags', with 271 of those issues using tactics of deception or fraud.

These tactics range from hiding information or providing false information about the location of the issuing company and its management to maintaining confidentiality regarding financial data and stealing ideas from other companies' white papers, intended to market the offering to investors.
In fact, opinions regarding the use of this tool for fundraising are divided both inside and outside the virtual currency industry.

According to Zhao Changfeng, CEO of the world's largest cryptocurrency trading company, 'Binance', investing in virtual currency issues is a hundred times easier than investing in traditional venture capital funds.

According to him, scams exist everywhere and in every industry. Like, for example, phone calls and text messages announcing winning a big prize, that you first have to make a bank transfer to some person to get it. And yet, no one is going to stop using phones, text messages and banks.

In contrast, the CEO of the British CoinShares platform, Danny Masters, argues that improvements in the virtual currency issuance arena are an essential step in enabling the Bitcoin markets to grow.

At the same time, US authorities, led by the Securities and Exchange Commission, continue to struggle with the spread rates of virtual currency issuances around the world during 2018, deciding to closely monitor the local arena in order to locate 'bad players'.

It is important to note that some of those 271 suspected market players have already been sidelined by lawsuits or law enforcement and regulators, prompting investors to try to recoup lost funds worth an estimated $ 273 million.

The Fifth Convention of the Israeli Bar Association, 2016

In the convention, young lawyers, as well as veteran, were convened from across the country in order to discuss the freedom of expression over the social network, as opposed to injury of the individual rights, as well as the security of the state. In the convention, politicians from both wings of the Israeli political scope participated, and also great jurists. which discussed in quality panels the most sensitive issues for the State of Israel.

Read more The Fifth Convention of the Israeli Bar Association, 2016

IBM Event on "Watson" Technology

March 2016, in Sinematec Tel-Aviv, an event by IBM on an amazing piece of technology named "Watson", being a kind of "Artificial Intelligence" (Computer Intelligence).
The Technology is trying to make computers more human-like, and to transport the user-experience into the future. Good luck!

Read more IBM Event on "Watson" Technology